Short Cervix

This is my first post. I've been reading as much as possible on this site. I've learned so much. I hope you can help me a little bit. I'm currently 20 weeks along. Both babies have their own placentas & amniotic sacs. I saw my peri yesterday; we found out that they're probably both girls. One was kinda shy, but the other was willing to show it all. At the end of the appointment, they measured my cervix. I've never had that done before. It measured 2.9. Apparently, it's supposed to be at least 3. He's going to let my OB monitor it for a while. He said if it keeps shortening it's either bedrest or a cerclage. I work with a girl that had a cerclage for an incompetent cervix. Is that the same thing?? She said it was painful. Is it always that way?? I guess I'd rather have pain than bedrest. Has anybody done anything else for a short cervix?? Any help will be appreciated!!

 

Hi! :hug99: A shortening cervix is not a good thing and it must be watched. My cerclage was placed at 13 Weeks and it did a wonderful job of holding my cervix closed. I had a loss prior to my twin pregnancy due to IC and that is why I had it placed early. A lady I used to know had a cerclage placed at 21 weeks and it held, however she was on strict bedrest until she delivered. My Aunt who had IC had a cerclage with her 2 children and had no problems. So as you can see there are a lot of successes with them.

Do they hurt? I don't recall a lot of pain. I knew it was there as Ian's head put a lot of pressure on my cervix however after 27 weeks or so -- his head was bigger than the birth canal and began to rest on my pelvic bone and I could no longer feel it. But it did not hurt.

Please put yourself on a modified bedrest if you can. Lay down and stay off your feet. If the cervix decides to shorten -- it may do it very quickly and more often than not, you are not going to know it until you loose your plug, feel an incredible backache (not always), or your water breaks. So please - stay off your feet whenever possible, no lifting at all, and insist on being monitored weekly vice bi-weekly or monthly. If your OB won't monitor your cervix then insist on the peri to take that for action.

I don't want to scare you and I know I have and I am sorry. 2.9 by the way is a great length -- so feel good about that. And I was down to 0.8 to 1.0 and the cerclage held. Another lady on TS, she did not have a cerclage, was down to 0.8 and made it 34 weeks -- she was also on very strict bedrest.

I am here for you -- if you have questions please feel free to PM at anytime. You are in my thoughts.

 

Hi,
I had cervix issues too… I went in to my peri @ 17 weeks and it was 2.8, then 2.5 then 2.2 with funneling (all within 2 weeks… I was on bed rest for those 2 weeks) then after seeing my OB, a Cerclage specialist and my Peri… they all 3 agreed that I might make it the whole pregnancy without needing the Cerclage and make it just fine (I would just be bed ridden the whole pregnancy)… OR my cervix won’t last and I go into PTL somewhere at the end of my second trimester (if I was lucky to make it that far)… OR I could have the Cerclage and if it works I could resume normal activity… no exercise but I could go to the grocery store or Target…. It was a gamble… so we decided to do it (I was bed ridden with my son from 24 w to his birth at 35 and it was hard, I couldn’t imagine doing it with a child at home this time... plus i had lost a prg before i had my son). I had my Cerclage put in at 19 weeks (my specialist wouldn’t do it past 22 weeks) and my cervix is now at 4.4 and I can do slight activity like walk my dog around the bock and DTD (sorry if TMI).

The Cerclage didn’t hurt… I had a spinal, and the only discomfort was I felt like I had a UTI for the rest of the day… I woke up the day after as if nothing happened (but I put myself on bed rest for that weekend). I was at the hospital from 7am-2:30pm… but I too was nervous when I was in your shoes… a lot of my decision to have the Cerclage was I really wanted to have as normal as pregnancy as possible for my sons sake… and now I am really glad I did… at my last peri visit he said things look so good I didn’t have to see him for 5 weeks… I’ll be almost 30 weeks by then (I do see my ob every other week).

Before we made our decision to have the Cerclage I posted on here to get advice from women who chose to have a Cerclage and those who didn’t… they really put me at ease and I am sooo glad I had TS to help me through… I personally only know one women who had a Cerclage (and she’s really a friend of a friend) so to have 10-15 women with the same experience to talk to… makes it all so much easier…

Good luck and keep us posted :hug99: …

Elizabeth

 

Hi CLB. I had a cerclage put in at 22 weeks when my cervix went from 3.8 cm to 1.6 in just a week! I had a spinal for the procedure itself and a bit of pain the following day, but nothing that tylenol didn't take care of. There's been no pain at all since then. Since the cerclage my cervix has been pretty stable at about 2 cm, so it seems to be doing its job of keeping everything closed.

Don't let the possibility of pain deter you -- I think it's pretty unlikely to be very painful. But the posters above are right that you should take it easy as much as possible. That week that my cervix shortened so much I had a really busy time at work and was on my feet a *lot*, which might have been a contributing factor.

 

Just wanted to echo the comments. I just had a cerclage put in at 23 weeks (which is very late for a cerclage; the specialist said they don't put then in once you've hit week 24). Thanks ot the anesthesia, the procedure was not comfortable but no worse than getting a pap smear. Its been ~ 3 weeks and I've had no pain since then and no further dilation. I am on bedrest, which I think is helping alot.

One question I have for others - how often does your doctor check your cervix?

 

QUOTE(ZCH @ Jan 27 2008, 03:14 PM) [snapback]592022[/snapback]
One question I have for others - how often does your doctor check your cervix?


I stagger my appointments: OB then 2 weeks later peri then 2 weeks later ob… my ob does a manual check and my peri looks via vaginal u/s… BUT at my latest Peri he didn’t look via vaginal u/s and doesn’t want to look for 5 weeks… I THINK my OB will do a manual check each time he sees me(which is every 2 weeks now)… but he doesn’t measure, he just feels

Elizabeth

 

Thanks for the info. I've been reading all the posts in the bedrest subcategory. I sounds like several people have the same problem. I still think the cerclage sounds better than bedrest, but I'll do whatever I have to do to keep these babies in there longer. When I got home from work yesterday morning, I was having a lot of pain in my belly. It was to the point I would have to stop whatever I was doing & just breathe. I hope it wasn't contractions. I was just blaming it on gas. It all went away when I layed down & took a nap. I'll see the OB this morning & I'll ask him to measure my cervix again. I think I'll request to go weekly from now on. Thanks again for your help. I'll keep everybody in the know!!

Cassey

 

Hello. I just read everyones post. I'm on bed rest too for my cervix. I'm almost 24 weeks. Last week at the peri
my cervix went from 4.3/4.4 to 3.5/3.0. Yesterday myOB said that I have a little bit of funneling in which they are
sort of concerned of. It's so crazy how your cervix can drastically change in a week!!! My peri said he won't do a
cerclage on me now. He said if my cervix gets down to 2.5 then I would have to go into the hospital!! I fear that
since I have an adorable 2 yr old home with me. That would break my heart to be away from her. I can do
the basics right now, but not on my feet for long. My OB felt my cervix yesterday and didn't have a concern, but I
always feel better when I go to the peri and do an ultrasound to see the measurments.

I'm sorry but all of this is stressful. Sometimes I just want to cry!! Right now, I'm having heart burn,aghhhh!!!

Tina

 

I just started week 21. My cervix was 2.9 on Jan 25th. Today it was 3.2. There's no funnelling. I still have to go for checkups once a week & see the peri once a month. Hopefully, it keeps staying about the same. I'm going to make it to 34 weeks!!

 

Just to add my two cents...

I had my cerclage put in at 22wks because it was 1.5. The same day I was admitted to the hospital where I stayed until 35.5 weeks. (Yes, that's 13 weeks!!) I was on very strict bedrest until 28wks where I didn't even get up to the bathroom, except BM. After 28wks I got bathroom privileges.

But I went home pregnant! I finally went into labor at 36.5wks, though I did not know it. (Went in for a check-up after cerclage removal and found I was 5cm dilated!)

For me, I never once felt the cerclage. I had no pain.

Good luck to you!

 

Had another check today. I'm up to 3.4. I'm hoping they can stop monitoring it every week, but I have to wait until my next peri appt on Feb 22. Heard both heartbeats today. That's always a good thing!!